Back for Good
by WritingForTheWorld
Summary: Aria had no other choice but to go to Columbia, or the only person she truly loved would get hurt. Ezra was told that she was going to Hollis, but it was all a lie. Now that Ezra has decided to go to New York to find her, and Aria lives with her med-student boyfriend, will everything work out when they unexpectedly cross paths at work? Please R&R! No Maggie, Malcolm, or Jackie!
1. Chapter 1

Ezra Fitz scrolled through his new iPhone, one that he was still having trouble getting used to after owning a flip phone for so many years. He read the words of their last conversation, their last means of communication since she left. Since she changed her phone number. Since she moved to the city that never sleeps.

He read the texts with an ever so familiar baffled expression.

_"Aria, how could you do this to me? You're the best thing in my life that's ever happened to me."_

_"Ezra, look, I know it was wrong of me to leave without saying anything, but at the time I thought it would be better for the both of us."_

_"So you just left? I thought I meant more to you than that. I thought what we had meant more to you than leaving. I guess I was wrong."_

_"Ezra, it does mean a lot to me, but I'm 18 years old. I'm an adult and I need to make my own choices. I just couldn't go to Hollis like I said I would. I need to live out my life, I need to experience it. The only place that I feel like I can do that is here in New York, and this is the time of my life to do it."_

_"So what you're saying is that I can't give you everything you want in life?"_

_"Ezra, I don't expect you to understand, but please just listen. You've given me so much to live for and I don't regret any of it. Rosewood just isn't a good place for me to be, and I'm not leaving because of you. Rosewood has too much of a history that I don't want to deal with anymore. You need to live your life without me. I'm not good enough for you and you deserve someone who is. Don't try to find me. I'm happy with my life the way it is. I just want you to know that I will never forget you. I can't talk anymore. I have to go. Goodbye."_

_"Aria, please don't leave me hanging."_

_"Aria?"_

These texts were sent exactly five years ago to one another.

Ezra had scrolled through these final farewell messages several times in the last month, which had led him to buy a one way ticket to LaGuardia Airport - so he could find her. While in the meantime, he was going to build up a life for himself in New York, which he hoped to start by publishing a book, one that he had written back in Rosewood for past years. Hopefully a publishing company would accept him, but in case that fell through, he'd be starting a teaching position at the Trinity School, a private school for wealthy kids.

He put his phone away in an effort to preserve the battery while he looked up at the beautiful skyscrapers and 18th century buildings. He took a sigh of joy as they came upon the Brooklyn bridge, giving him a spectacular view of the Manhattan skyline as the sunset. He gazed at the mid-August sky, painted with various shades of pink, orange, yellow, and blue, something he hadn't seen in years. He loved this city. It was the home of his childhood. At least until he was seventeen and his father got arrested for child abuse, substance abuse, and a variety of other crimes. Then he was sent to Rosewood to live with his aunt, uncle, and cousins, due to the fact that his mother lived in England.

He looked at the brightly colored sky, painted shades of purple, pink, orange, yellow, and blue, darkening by the minute, perfectly contrasting with the lights of the buildings. He wondered what part of town Aria might live in. He wondered if she even still lived here. His worst fear entered his mind: what if she was married and had kids? He doubted that this was true, but the thought still creeped into his mind every once in a while. His cab pulled up in front of his temporary housing, Hardy's apartment, without even paying attention.

"Hey, ya owe me $35! I got places to be!", the grubby taxi driver yelled with his strong New Yorker accent. Ezra quickly pulled his wallet out and handed him 2 twenties and a few ones. That would be enough including the tip. He handed him the money, then grabbed his small carry on, his only bag, and jumped out of the car.

The taxi drove away quickly as Ezra stood there, holding his tiny, roughed up suitcase. He took a deep breath and walked up to the building, pressing button number 5H. It had been 2 years since he had seen his old college friend in person.

"Ezra! What are you waiting for? Get your ass up here so we can get this party started!"

Ezra gulped and opened the door, remembering that Hardy had always been the party kind of guy that he himself wasn't. However, Ezra walked into the building excited to see the guy that he had done so many stupid, but fun things in college with.

* * *

Aria Montgomery sat across from her boyfriend of 5 years, Will Sutton, a person that she loved so much, or at least she thought she did. Tonight he had taken her to see the New York Philharmonic, something that had been on her bucket list since she was in the 7th grade. Now they were sitting in a little known restaurant talking over Italian food.

Will picked up his glass of wine and took a sip out of it before gently setting it down on the coaster. "So, baby. What did you think of the performance?", he asked.

Aria could barely swallow her food before raving about the concert. "Oh my gosh Will. It was so amazing. I've never heard anything so beautiful in my life. I can't thank you enough."

"Aria, it's my pleasure. That's what you wanted for your birthday present. 2 tickets to the New York Philharmonic. I'm glad you enjoyed it.", he said, smiling at Aria. His swept back his golden blond hair and Aria's stomach had a sudden amount of butterflies in her stomach.

"So how was your day at school?", Aria asked. Will was studying to become a doctor, a cardiologist to be exact. He'd began his third year of school a few days ago. He was two years older than Aria.

She'd come to terms that he never wanted to have children because he wanted to be focused on his career. Aria was so disappointed when he told her, but she had accepted that since she loved him so much. However, she hadn't let that keep her from working with kids; this year she was lucky enough to snag a job as a music teacher at one of New York's most elite schools- the Trinity School.

Aria was so excited to be teaching music to the children in the little school. When she was being interviewed, the woman told her that they normally didn't hire people straight out of college, but that she thought she was a rare exception.

Aria graduated from Columbia University with a degree in English and a degree in music with magna cum laude honors. She remembered the joy of her friends and family that day. Spencer, Hanna, and Emily even met up to surprise her at her graduation ceremony by telling her that they all had finals that day, which none of them did. Her father hugged her for the first time in years, unable to let go of the fact that she was in a relationship with her English teacher for almost 2 years until that day. Her mother was crying tears of joy, proud of how much her daughter had accomplished. And her brother, well, he was the same old Mike, but she missed hearing his sarcastic remarks everyday. It seemed then like everyone was the happiest person on Earth except for her, because she was thinking about a certain someone.

Ezra.

They had always talked about how they would get married someday when Aria was in her twenties, and eventually have a kid or two, maybe even three. Now Aria was twenty three, almost twenty four. She always wondered if she had made the right decision, dropping her whole life to escape Rosewood. She missed him occasionally, but then she had to hold onto the fact that he was probably married, he probably had his own kids, and he was probably angry at her. Not to mention that she was the one who left. She was the one who told him not to find her.

"My day was good. I found out that I get to start my rotations a month from today. I'm going to be starting in the Emergency and Trauma Center.", he said.

"Oh, that sounds interesting.", she said, secretly lying. She wasn't a fan of the hospital, let alone the ER.

"Yeah, I'm going to be able to give people stitches and give people CPR….", he said. Aria lost her train of thought when she saw someone step out of a taxi that looked oddly familiar- a tall man with dark brown, wildly curly hair… She looked back at Will and ignored the thought. He couldn't be here. He just couldn't be. She nodded her head with a fake smile plastered onto it, not even sure what he was talking about at this point.

"So how did setting up your classroom go?", he asked. A real smile immediately came upon Aria's perfect face. She had convinced the school to lend her some old chairs in a storage closet that hadn't been used for years - and to let her paint them bright colors that she thought the kids would enjoy. Then, she got some wall decals from the classroom decor store that were shaped like music notes and put those on her classroom wall. After she finished setting up part of her classroom, she met one of the kindergarten teachers, Amelia Samuels and introduced herself, then made herself useful by offering to set up the play centers in the woman's room.

"It was really good actually. I met one of the kindergarten teachers and I got a lot of my goals done."

"Oh, that's nice.", he said. They talked for a little bit more before they paid the bill and went to their shared apartment in Washington Heights, near the medical school.

Once they were home, her and Will watched T.V. for a couple hours before she decided to turn in early for the night. She had a big day ahead of her. She planned to finish putting up posters of musical instruments and famous composers, then to start writing lesson plans for the first week. Then at four o' clock, there was going to be the first faculty meeting of the new school year, one of which all instructors were required to attend.

Before she went to bed, she went over to tell him goodnight. "I'm going to bed, Will."

"Oh, you are? Can I ask you something real quick?", he said, standing up and following her into the bedroom.

"Sure babe. Anything.", she said, her eyelids becoming heavier and heavier by the second.

"Is everything alright? Like, between you and I?", he said, his hands behind the small of his back, something that he often did when he was nervous.

Aria raised her eyes at this statement. She thought that everything was fine between them. She wondered what he thought. "Of course. Why? Do you think something is wrong?"

He looked down for a second, then looked back up. His face was bright red, something that often happened when he was embarrassed or ashamed. "Sorry. I was just wondering. I'm happy with our relationship, but I just wanted to make sure that you were too. I'll get out so you can sleep. Goodnight.", he said, about to close the door when Aria began speaking again.

"Wait, you forgot something.", she said, walking towards him.

He turned back around looking confused. "What?"

"This.", she said in her seductive voice, then wrapped her arms around his shoulders, causing her to stand on her tip-toes due to their great difference in height, then planted her lips on his, and gave him a long, romantic kiss. They continued this for a few minutes before they stepped away from each other.

"I love you.", Aria said, still talking in her seductive voice.

"I love you too, but you have a big day ahead of you. You really need to get to sleep."

"Alright. Goodnight.", she said.

"Goodnight," he said, smiling while closing the door. Aria then climbed into bed and curled up into her normal sleeping position. After assuming her position, she reached over her and turned off the light. Within seconds of her head hitting the pillow, she was out cold.

* * *

She would need all the rest she could get. Little did she or Ezra know that at that faculty meeting, they would both come face to face with the person that they had first ever truly fallen in love with. Little did they know that they would have to come to terms with what had happened. And last, but not least, little did they know that everything was about to change.


	2. Chapter 2

Aria woke up to the sunlight gently hitting her eyelids. She smiled and turned over to where Will should have been, but he was gone. She sat up, squinted her eyes, looked around at the room, which was mainly composed of birch furniture from Ikea and white blankets and curtains, then looked at the clock.

_7:45 A.M,_ the bright red numbers read.

"Shit," she exclaimed. She was supposed to wake up an hour ago, and Will was already at school. She quickly jumped out of bed, letting her feet hit the cold hard floor, then ran to bathroom. Frantically, she sprayed some dry shampoo in her hair before throwing it up into an ponytail that would make her hair look presentable, but classy enough not to get her fired. She took off her pajamas and slung them into the corner of the bathroom, then threw on the school-emblazoned white polo, tucked her pair of khakis into some cognac boots, tucked her shirt into her pants, then looped a brown belt into her pants and threw on a navy blue blazer. She put on some deodorant and brushed her teeth faster than she ever had before sprinting out of the bathroom.

Aria then grabbed her purse and ran out of the messy bedroom and into the kitchen, opened the fridge to get one of her refrigerated Starbucks drinks, then slammed it shut, causing all of the glass bottles to rattle, but she ran out of the apartment, slamming the door, then started speed walking to the elevator.

Once she got in and it started moving, she took her phone out and looked at the time. She took a sigh of relief when she saw she had twenty minutes to get there before the meeting started since it only took her 10 minutes to walk there. The elevator stopped at the lobby of the building and Aria walked out with a nervous smile on her face. She had a feeling that today was going to be an interesting day.

* * *

Ezra walked down the hallway of the upper school's English department, head held high, confident that today was going to be a good day. After he went to the faculty meeting, he planned to put up posters that inspired him to write, then write lesson plans for the first week of school.

He took the key to his classroom and opened it for the first time. After walking in and setting his briefcase on the desk, he stood at the front of the classroom to get a good view of it. It was set up much like his classroom in Rosewood, except the furnishings were nicer. Instead of a chalk board, there was a white board. Instead of the clunky, 20 year old desks, there were wooden desks that appeared to be in pretty good condition. The walls were painted a shade of sky blue and there were bookcases lining the back wall.

He glanced at the clock and realized that he only had five minutes to travel down 4 floors and across an entire building in order to be on time to the meeting. _Shit,_ he thought as he raced across the empty hallway to the elevator that would get him to the conference room as quickly as possible.

* * *

Aria walked into the conference room early with a few minutes to spare. She took a seat in between Amelia and the dance teacher, Erica Roseanne. People took their seats as the head of the school came in with the principal of the upper school. People lowered their voices but continued their conversations since the head of the school was still carrying on a conversation of his own.

"So, how do you like the school?" Amelia asked her. Aria looked up from her lap and quickly responded to the 32 year old French woman's question.

"I really like it. There seems to be a very positive atmosphere here. I don't find that quite often." she replied. People quieted even more as they looked up and saw Mr. Allman shake the principal's hand and sit down.

Aria tensed up, not sure what to expect from her first ever meeting. She put her thumbs inside the pockets of her pants when she felt something cool and made out of metal in her right pocket. She removed her left hand from it's pocket and shoved her right hand further into the pocket with the unknown object in it. Looking down, she could feel her face starting to turn a darker shade of red every second. She fumbled around in her pocket under the long, oval shaped table until she got a grasp of the object.

She slowly pulled it out and held in her hand under the table and paid attention to Mr. Allman while he thanked everyone for being here on time, or mostly everybody. Apparently one of the teachers from the upper school's English department was going to be a little bit late. She tuned out his voice while he rambled on about how he planned for this school year to have some major changes. She quietly listened and looked at him while she scooted her chair out a slight bit so she could look at what appeared to be a brass locket on a necklace. She looked down quickly and opened the locket.

Her face turned white when she saw the pictures on the inside.

On one side, it was the first ever picture that she and Ezra had taken together, the one where they had the paper bags with artistically drawn faces over their heads. On the opposite side, there was one that Hanna had taken for them the summer of high school graduation when they all went to the beach. Aria was wearing a black and gold bikini with sunglasses sitting atop her head and Ezra was sitting next to her, his shirtless, perfectly sculpted chest offering a resting place for her head.

Amelia looked next to her and saw the new, young teacher with a face that belonged to a ghost. She poked Aria, getting her attention and causing her to put the necklace away as fast as lightning. Amelia silently mouthed, "What?", but she got nothing in response but a young woman shaking her head, using body language to say, "Nothing. It doesn't matter."

Just as the head finished his quick introduction, everyone's attention shifted to the door when the English teacher who was about to get famous for daring to come into one of Mr. Allman's meetings late walked in. Aria looked at the door, at the person walking in.

She thought she was having a nightmare. Her face turned whiter than it ever had before. The person who walked in was Ezra Fitz. It took her all of her will power not to gasp, choke, scream, cry, or make any kind of attention that would negatively draw attention to her. She couldn't believe what was happening. It couldn't be happening. It just couldn't be.

When Aria left for college five years ago and lied to Ezra, it wasn't because she was too much of a wimp to call it off. It wasn't because she never got the chance to tell him she was moving to New York. It wasn't even really her choice.

* * *

Five years ago:

_"Aria, why don't you apply to Columbia University?" her father questioned her. It was about Christmas time and she was trying to get some of her applications done early. However, she didn't want to apply to Columbia. She felt it was too preppy for her and she would be paying off student debt for the rest of her life, if they even accepted her._

_Aria replied back with a response that seemed to have a cross tone, not pleasing her father. "Dad. I don't want to go there for the millionth time. It just doesn't suit me. I'm fine going to Hollis."_

_"Why are you fine going to Hollis? So you can hook up with your English professor there too?" he asked. His voice was rising, but there was no one there to help Aria. She and her father were the only ones in the house. Aria was about to turn around before she started crying and go up to her room, but her dad grabbed her by the arm, grasping it so tight that she had a bruise there for a month. _

_"Where do you think you're going there, little girl?" her dad questioned her in a quiet, but very harsh and terrifying tone with his mouth right next to her ear._

_"Dad," she said, trying her best not to cry or scream out of fear and resentment. She decided to give in to him, just so he would release his hold on her,"I'm sorry. If it makes you happy, I"ll apply to Columbia."_

_Slowly, he let go of his strong grip on Aria, but she didn't dare even step a foot. He looked her in the eye and began to talk to her in the same tone as before. "Now, you know that if you get accepted to Columbia, you're going there, right?"_

_Blinking back tears, Aria responded. "What? What do you mean?" she asked in a very soft tone in an effort not to displease her father any further. _

_Grabbing her by the arm in a way that was harsher than before, he began to speak to her in a way that made her fear her well being. "If you get accepted there, you are going to accept admission. You will tell everyone that you are attending Hollis, especially Ezra. By the way, I will find out if you tell anyone about this conversation. Let's just say that you would rather go to Columbia than face my punishment."_

_Tears cascaded down Aria's face. She spoke before she thought. "So I'm being forced to go to Columbia because you can't accept Ezra as a human being?" As soon as those words came out of her mouth, she regretted it. _

_The petite girl heard the loudest slap she had ever heard and suddenly her cheek was on fire and she was sprawled out on the cold, hard wooden floor. She slowly sat up with her mouth wide open, wanting to cry, sob, and scream, but all she could let out was a whimper. _

_Her dad stood close to her, towering over her, all the while continuing to scold her. "What I'm saying is that either you are applying to Columbia and you better get accepted and you better accept admission. Or else, somebody is getting the cops called on them for having a student teacher relationship. You wouldn't want your old English teacher to have to go through that, now would you?" He threatened in a loud, terrifying voice that echoed through the house. _

_"No, sir," she replied. She kept her mouth shut, not daring to say more than she had to. _

_"Now go. Just go. And if you know what's good for you, you won't say a fucking word."_

_Aria collected herself from the floor and stood up, her ankle in extreme pain from her fall due to her 3 and a half inch heels, but she didn't dare hobble on it. "Yes, sir," the broken girl replied. She slowly walked up the stairs. Once she had mastered the stairs, she started walking as fast as she could to her room. After she got there, she locked her door, carefully took off her shoes, then threw herself on the bed and sobbed for hours before quietly dozing off._

She ended up telling her friends what her dad had done and was forcing her to do eventually. They suggested that she turn him in for child abuse, but she couldn't because he would tell the police that her and Ezra were in a relationship and Ezra would get arrested either way. No matter what she thought of doing, Ezra was going to get hurt anyway. There was nothing that she could do to protect him or herself.

Her dad conveniently purchased her a new phone right before move-in, one of which he would have access to all of her text messages, voicemails, calls, etc. He was cutting her off from Ezra.

For the first week of college, she spent most of her time moping in her room. The second week, she started getting out more and made a few friends. She still thought about Ezra for almost a six months before she accepted the fact that they were never going to see each other or talk to each other ever again. That was when she met Will. Will helped her realize that she could still live life and have fun even though Ezra wasn't there. They started out as friends who went to the gym together to train for the NYC marathon, but then their relationship blossomed into something more.

* * *

Aria snapped back to reality when she felt Ezra's glare on her. She looked up and made quick eye contact with him, then went back to fiddling with the heart shaped locket. She couldn't tell whether her face was snow white or fire engine red. Ezra took the last available chair, which just so happened to be the one right in front of her.

About 2 hours later the painfully awkward meeting was over, and Aria was the first one to bolt out of the room. She rushed to her room, sat in the corner where her desk was, and curled up into a ball only to start sobbing. She had finally come to terms with everything in her life, and now this? The universe certainly did not have her fate in favor.

She sat in her fetal like position for about 15 minutes before she heard a knocking on the door. "Who is it?" she cried out, dreading the fact that Ezra could now confront her at work, the one place where she wanted to get away from it everything. The place where all she wanted to do was teach little kids the difference between a quarter note and a half note, the place where she wanted to teach children about different composers.

"It's Amelia. Can I come in?" she asked. Aria wiped the tears from her face and sniffled a few times before opening the door. She faintly smiled at her, then invited her in. She took a yellow chair for her to sit in and faced it to a red chair that was behind it. They both sat down.

"Hey, what was with you in there? When that dude walked in your face turned as white as a ghost," she said, taking a small sip of her coffee.

"I know."

"Well, not to be rude or anything, but why? Is he like your ex or something?"

All Aria did was look at her. She had her elbows resting on her knees, thinking. She raised her eyebrow, giving Amelia the feeling that her guess was correct.

"Really? What happened? You two would look so good together!" She said, clearly getting caught up in the imaginary world where Aria and Ezra could be perfectly happy together with nothing standing in the way of them being a couple.

"It's a really long story." Aria said, feeling her hands getting clammy.

"I have time." Amelia said, obviously really interested in what happened between them by the way she looked at Aria.

"Alright. I trust you though, so you can't be talking about this in the breakroom. Deal?" she said. She looked at Amelia. Amelia nodded quickly. Aria went on to discuss how she had met Ezra at a bar in her hometown when she was a junior in high school, although she left out the part of him being her teacher, then they continued seeing each other secretly. She went on to include how her brother punched him in the face and how eventually her dad threatened her about turning him into the police. When she was finished, she took a huge sigh of relief. It felt good to tell someone every once in a while.

They talked for a little bit longer before Amelia left so Aria could get started on her actual work. Aria put her best efforts forward to get her work done, but she just couldn't with the thoughts of Ezra looming over her head. She knew someone she could talk to for advice.

Quickly, Aria dialed Hanna's number. Hanna was a rookie fashion designer for Betsey Johnson. On the third ring, she picked up.

"Hello?" Hanna asked.

"Hey." Aria responded.

"Hey, Aria. What's up?"

"Can we meet for lunch? It's, like, really urgent. I have to tell you what happened." Aria said, hoping that she'd be able to meet her. She heard a gasp over the phone.

"Oh my gosh," Hanna screamed into the phone," Will proposed, didn't he?! Can I pretty, pretty please be your maid of honor? OMG. Can I design your wedding dress?" Aria winced as she jerked the phone from her ear. She was pretty sure that someone from the next room over could hear her. Hanna had been asking her those same questions since the beginning of the summer.

"Han, calm down! He didn't propose okay? It'll happen when it happens. I need to talk to you about something that happened at work."

"What happened?" she asked, clearly disappointed that there wasn't going to be a wedding in the near future.

"It's a long story. Which is why I want to have lunch. So are you free or not?" Aria asked.

"I'm free at 12. Is that good?" she asked.

"That's fine. I can order pizza and we can eat in my classroom." Aria replied, feeling sick to her stomach just thinking that now Ezra was in her life. She missed him occasionally, but she had a boyfriend now. She had a whole future planned out for her. How was she supposed to deal with someone who she had tried to forget about because she thought her dad was going to put him in prison?

"Alright. We have a deal." Hanna said.

"Okay. I've got to get to work. See you at noon." Aria said, trying to wrap up the conversation.

"'Kay. Bye." Hanna said. With that, Aria hung up.

Aria sat down at her desk and put her head in her hands. She had developed a major headache from just thinking that Ezra was back in town. At least she knew that her dad had held up his end of the ultimatum.

Aria tried to hold back the tears, but she just couldn't. She was mad at her dad. Mad couldn't even begin to describe the amount of rage and pain she wished upon him. She was mad at her dad for taking away her first true love. She was mad at her dad for forcing her to leave her clueless mother and brother behind with a monster like himself. She was mad at him for all the emotional and physical abuse he had put her through. She didn't know how someone could do something like that.

Aria rested her head on her desk. She had that horrible feeling like when your throat gets all tight when you're about to have an emotional breakdown.

She was mad at fate, because now, she finally had to come to terms with something that she had tried to pretend had never happened, and it was biting her in the ass.


End file.
